A team of foreign delegates headed by Professor Timothy Walsh long with the local coordinators visited KEMU

A team of foreign delegates headed by Professor Timothy Walsh (Professor of Microbiology, Oxford University UK), Principal investigator of the project BARNARDS II, Ms Katy Thompson (Postdoc Research Fellow, Oxford University), Prof Brekhna (Professor, Cardiff University, Scientific Lead at BARNARDS), along with the local coordinators visited King Edward Medical University Lahore and the department of the Paediatric Meducibe to take stock of the newly started multi-centre, multi-nation study on the *Burden of Antibiotics Resistant in Neonates from Developing Societies (BARNARDS-II).*

The team was received by the Chairman Department of Paediatric Prof. Muhammad Haroon Hamid, along with the other representatives from the Paediatric Department Dr Sadia Shabbir, from the Microbiology Department Dr Mona, the Gynaecology Department Dr Maria Imran and the local coordinator Miss Rabina. The team paid a visit to the Vice Chancellor Prof. Mahmood Ayyaz, and updated him on the importance of the study in the context of developing countries, like Pakistan. King Edward Medical University is one of the five centres in Pakistan that are taking part in the study. Other centres include NICH Karachi, Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, and the other hospitals from Swabi and Peshawar.

The Vice-Chancellor assured full support for the study and extended his cooperation in resolving any logistic issues. After the visit to the VC office, the team visited the microbiology section of Pathology Dept. They were briefed by the Pathology team led by the Professor of Pathology Prof. Ambreen, and assistant professor of microbiology Dr Mona and Hina.

The team also visited the under-renovation paediatric laboratory and appreciated the work going on, especially the microbiology section. Later the team visited the newly revamped neonatal unit and appreciated the work that has been done recently. The team from Oxford University observed the whole process of data collection and data entry. They also visited the neonatal unit of Lady Wallingdon Hospital and post natal ward in the Gynae department.

During debriefing at the end of their visit, the team from Oxford University appreciated the collaborative work being carried out with the KEMU and the Department of Paediatrics in carrying out this very important study. The study would go a long way in assessing the effects of antibiotic resistance, drug target attainment, bacterial pathogenicity, and antibiotic access and outcome of neonaal sepsis in developing societies.